“If by talking and being friendly with Joma Sison makes Mayor Duterte a communist, I must then be in a far more worse situation,” he said when asked by former Malacanang aide, Atty. Jesus Dureza, to comment on the accusations that the Davao City mayor is a communist.
Dureza was Ramos’ Presidential Assistant for Mindanao in the late 1990s and also served as Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process and Press Secretary in Malacanang.
The former President even appreciated Duterte’s move of reaching out to Sison, recalling that during his (Ramos) administration, he went even further in abolishing Republic
Act No. 1700, the so-called Anti-Subversion Law that penalized mere membership in the communist party, an unprecedented move that was viewed as favoring the communists.
Ramos said his decision then was a necessary step to “heal a divided nation.”
He added that Duterte’s early efforts to unite the nation is a “right move” and must be welcomed instead of being criticized and condemned.
Ramos recalled that it was during his administration that significant strides were done to reach out to the communist rebels to seek for lasting peace.
“You were with the Philippine negotiating panel then with Ambassador Howard Dee, Secretary Bebot Bello and Congressman Apeng Yap of Tarlac that I sent to Europe several times to negotiate peace with Joma and the CPP/NPA/NDF panel, remember?,” Ramos reminded Dureza, who was the spokesman of the government negotiating panel and Davao congressman representing the House of Representatives in the Philippine panel at the time.
Duterte, in several occasions, had said that he valued Ramos’ advice and the latter is someone whom he would go to for guidance from time to time.
The former President is also widely perceived as among those responsible for convincing Duterte to consider the presidency.
No comments:
Post a Comment